Saturday, July 11, 2020

Summer is Zipping By

I’m glad July is a long month, because this summer is zipping by. Remember how S.L.O.W. the days seemed in March and April, when we were first quarantined for the Covid-19 pandemic? It felt like April was five years long. That was probably because it was not only a marked change in routine for most of us, but also because the spring weather (at least in the Northern Hemisphere) was cold, cool, rainy, rinse and repeat. Indoor weather. Now with summer in full swing, at least we can change up our routines by sitting or working or visiting outdoors in the mornings and evenings. And if family or friends drop by, we can visit with proper social distancing in the sheltered green shade of the patio and grape vines with the fan blowing cool air on us. It really has been... dare I say?.... nice!  

I did get a lot of sewing time in this week, which was really enjoyable. Although I do get out one or two mornings a week to keep on top of the garden chores, the great majority of my free time is spent sewing. Our local quilt shop is resuming our Block of the Month meetings this weekend, but I don’t feel comfortable sitting in a room with a lot of other people, even if they’re masked and numbers are controlled. There are only 2 months left of this BOM class, and I’ll just do my thing to finish off the sampler blocks we were making. They’re going to end up being 2 quilts that’ll go to charity, so it’s all good. 

So, I’ll be linking up with Rainbow Scrap Challenge this week (and perhaps a couple others if I can remember!!) to share my scrap progress for July’s work with medium and dark blues.

First up, I made these 12 Twin Sisters blocks.


Next up was a dark blue Scraptastic Star block. This makes 7 of the 12 I need for a quilt top.

And then there were the Split Nines. I made 18 of those. I’m going to have to sit down and come up with a plan for these. 


And here is the ZIP in the zipping-by of summer: my weekly Zipper blocks. These first five are done in the dark blues of the month’s color.  I know I keep saying how fun these are to make, but it’s true! 


And then I made five more in random colors and fabric. Now, there’s a bit of a story behind the top two blocks in the picture below. My friend Sally sent me some (as I call it) Va-Va-Voom pinup girl fabric as a joke to see what I’d do with it. Well, naturally I had to make zipper blocks from it. I made two of them - one is a Rated G block of hearts and nondescript parts. The other is more, shall we say, salacious. Hahahaha! One will go on the front of the quilt (where I’m trying to make no two blocks out of the same fabric) and one will go on the back. But which will be which?


This zipper quilt will be a keeper, so it could go either way. I’m leaning toward the risqué one on the front, to remind me of Sally’s mischievousness. 

And that subject reminds me of the conversation Sally and I had this week. When Bruce has long appointments at the prosthetist, Sally and I will sometimes chat on the phone to pass the time. This week we were coming up with arm attachment ideas for his robo-arm-in-the-making. It started off with a blender attachment and devolved hilariously from there.


When I told Bruce about it that evening, he laughed and came up with one or two on his own. Curiously, and I may have mentioned this before, Bruce used to work (and remains friends with) a man named Jon Price. Jon used to live and work in Hollywood, where he worked on various movies and actually built the hands for Edward Scissorhands. The hands were designed by Stan Winston, Jon’s boss, but Jon had the creative license to actually build them. Naturally, the credit all goes to Stan Winston, but Jon Curtis Price is at least mentioned in the movie credits. But once again, I digress...

I also managed to piece all the parts for a scrappy tote bin. That will get sewn up this weekend sometime.


And here are my pineapple blocks. I sewed two per day and have 22 out of the 24 completed!


In the coming week, my goal is to get the last two blocks made, sew the blocks into a flimsy (top), and get it layered and basted. I also have a panel top for Quilts for Kids that I’ll get basted, since I tend to baste in batches these day. So those two quilts, along with the scrappy blue tote and more Zipper blocks, should keep me hopping this next week. If I have time, I’ll also tackle my blue strings and begin sewing those into string blocks. Hopefully then I can start thinking about my final blue scrappy project, the Creature Quilt. 

I’m late posting this morning because I was out harvesting lettuce, spinach and peas this morning. I also took a lot of garden pictures and will include a few here to show how much things are just exploding in the garden beds! 

Onions


Carrots

Bruce and the Beanstalks

Spinach and lettuce (what’s left, lol)

Well, I had several more pictures I was going to post, but Blogger will not upload them. I’ve tried restarting my computer and still no luck. So, I’ll sign off for now. If Blogger will deign to cooperate in a day or two, I’ll try again. Have a nice week, friends!

16 comments:

  1. Love all the zippy zipper blocks! Glad I can watch your garden bloom; ours is about finished - we ate the last of our tomatoes for lunch today.

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  2. You have found lots of sewing time. So many great blocks. Looks like your garden is going wild! So much fresh produce to look forward to.

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  3. I’m loving your blue blocks. I wonder why I never think to make a blue and white quilt. They look so fresh and timeless. And there are certainly enough blues in the bin. Hmmm. And such a lush garden!! I can taste it from here.

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  4. lOVING THE SPLIT NINES A LOT...ALL YOUR BLOCKS ARE LOOKING GREAT!

    I will be going "quiet" for a bit as a lot of horrible comments (explicit type)
    have been appearing all of a sudden--when I switched to New Blogger they came in...
    so reverting to Legacy and hoping for the best...
    Julierose

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  5. My goodness, your blocks are exploding just like your garden is! Lots of lovely things to look at and admire, well done!

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  6. With many of us having trouble getting to the barber/hairstylist these days, Edward Scissorhands would be a handy guy to have around! Love all your blocks - those split 9 patches are a favorite. The garden looks wonderful, too! I've also been harvesting - cherry tomatoes, green beans, and two tiny zucchini - just a mini garden here!

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  7. Well, my garden has many more luscious weeds than yours. so there. And what’s sewing time?

    Over at Wanda’s Exuberant Color she was showing lots of 16 patch quilts, and I realized those blocks would be as much fun as the zippers. I’ve already started a few in my head.

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  8. Lovely Dark BLUE blocks and garden photos, Cathy!!

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  9. Lots of wonderful dark blue block additions at your house. I've done nothing all week as the 90 degree temperatures made it too hot for either sewing or the garden. We did get some much needed rain yesterday and it's cooled off about 10 degrees.
    Pat

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  10. great progress on all your projects - nice garden

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  11. Another great post. Love all your blocks, the Zipper ones are such fun, especially those naughty ladies. Enjoy the produce from your Veggie Garden.

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  12. Lots of projects in the hopper. I love your blues!

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  13. Your garden looks great. I am not involved in ANY of the outdoor work. Terry and I can just sit back and do what we want which mostly involves enjoying our littles. Cows have got into the garden and now rabbits. The kids went off to buy fence yesterday. There are two breaks in the fence at the top of the mountain which gives those darned cows free range. They like to come down to the creek that runs along the front of our property. Need furtilizer?, lol.
    xx, Carol

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  14. I'm just imagining how far the Bruce Scissorhands discussion must have devolved, especially since you mentioned it hot on the heels of the pin up girl blocks. Hmm. And then you innocently turned the subject to gardening, but I'm on to you. Make sure you wear your gardening gloves...dirty hands, dirty mind! :)

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  15. Ahhhhhh - a month of blues. My fave!!! Your garden is looking so lush and it's obviously producing tasty goodies too. Interesting about Scissorhands - haven't seen that movie altho' it's on my list for someday.

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